Want to help make the world a better place for sick kids and use your superpowers for good?You’ve come to the right job listing.

Are you a leader with the business understanding and hands-on management style to excel in a growing charity? Do you have the experience to empower your team and manage operations? Are you comfortable advancing development efforts to grow revenue and building the centralized operations and processes needed for a smoothly run nonprofit business?

We’re looking for an experienced Operations and Development Director who is interested in being part of something truly special and taking an innovative children’s charity to the next level. You will play a key leadership role in helping us reach seriously ill kids in children’s hospitals across the nation in a smart, sustainable manner.

Open Heart Magic: Not Your Typical Non-Profit Children’s Charity

Open Heart Magic (OHM) began in 2004 with the mission of bringing the transformative and therapeutic power of magic to kids facing the toughest medical situations. Today, with a staff of five and budget of $700,000, over 160 volunteer Hospital Magicians perform and teach kids magic at their hospital bedsides to change the hospital experience by taking their minds off their fears, bringing them hope and making them feel stronger to tackle their illnesses.

Our volunteer Hospital Magicians go into pediatric intensive care, oncology departments, the burn unit and even isolation rooms to reach kids who are in the fight of their lives. Our intense screening, training and certification program has created a dynamic community of passionate, talented, caring volunteers.

We’re looking for a Director who will care just as much.

Today, we reach over 12,000 children one-to-one at twelve children’s hospitals in Chicago, Ann Arbor and Cleveland, including Ann & Robert H. Lurie Children's Hospital, University of Michigan C.S. Mott Children’s Hospital and the Cleveland Clinic. As part of our commitment to bringing magic to more hospitalized kids every year, we will be launching new programs at three new hospital partners over the next twelve months. Meanwhile, we’re preparing a long-term operations plan to continue our successful growth to new hospitals across the nation.

Here’s a quick introduction video showing the impact on kids and sharing how we grew to reach 10,000 kids:

The Director of Operations and Development will work with the Founder/Executive Director and the Director of Marketing & Program Development to grow OHM’s operations and revenue and prepare for national expansion over the next four years. This is a new role with oversight of (and accountability for) operations and development activities, budget, and team, which currently includes one full time Development Manager and one part-time Office Manager. As the organization grows, so will this team.

Job Requirements

We’re looking for someone who loves building sustainable business on both the operations and development sides of a charity. OHM is a tightly and well run organization with the spirit and culture of a growing start up. We prefer a fast pace pursuing exciting results over easy. We are dedicated to leading the children’s hospital programming niche with the most thoughtful and beneficial children’s hospital programs fulfilled by the best trained, screened and most passionate group of volunteers in the nation.

We need someone who will proactively dig in and learn our business from the bottom up and then strategize how ongoing growth will impact all things central to operations, volunteer recruitment and nonprofit administration. We need the quality of organization processes to function with 100% certainty, because seriously ill kids are depending on us. You will need solid project management experience with the ability to follow up on details on your own projects and those of your staff.

We need someone able to introduce new elements to our development efforts to provide revenue that makes our growing operations sustainable and lasting for growth to more kids. We expect new ideas and on-going innovation which is the spirit that keeps OHM getting better and growing more sustainably.

Specifics on Requirements

Proven fundraising development experience and drive to lead new revenue-generating ideas and success with the development activities and responsibilities for this role

You will be responsible for the results from the OHM Charity Team and its fundraising program which includes recruitment, engagement, marketing and expo/race day activities with your team

You’ll prepare the annual year-end appeal with assistance from OHM marketing and your team

You’ll be responsible for grant writing strategy and results

The absolutely best part about these responsibilities is that we currently have a very effective and successful operational plan, development schedules, and supporting marketing and communication that grows each year. There’s a strong feeling of success and positive momentum throughout the organization with an amazing community of volunteers. We will look to you to build on this success to support on-going growth through your expertise and hard work.

Work with our volunteer leadership groups for special events to create our general budgets for annual planning

Direct the plan, processes and people for nonprofit administration for mailings, financial processes, insurances, handbook and audits

Use and learn new technology to improve our efficiencies and processes

Move boxes as a team leader and be involved on the front lines of a nonprofit charity

Act as lead for Board support and Board meeting planning

Act as the primary contact for all general Ops questions and activities for the Founder/Executive Director

Compensation & Benefits

Compensation: $52,000 to $58,000 depending on relevant experience and education

Full time position, with flexible work days

Use of Mac laptop provided

Use of iPhone provided after 6 month probation

Medical and 401K

Time off for sick days, vacation, holidays

Future compensation based on performance and OHM growth

Ready to Work Magic?

How to Apply for this Position.

Please submit your resume as a PDF to the email listed below and provide a writing sample by answering the following questions. There is no need to attach a separate cover letter with this information. You can drop the answers to these questions into the body of your email to make it easy.

Where did you find this job listing?

What is your approach to leadership and managing a team, and how will your style benefit a lean, mean and growing organization like Open Heart Magic?

What do you think Open Heart Magic needs right now from a Director of Development and Operations and why would you be a better fit than any other candidate?

Please email your response to:

OpsDevDirector@openheartmagic.org

Best of luck. If you don’t hear back from us within two months, another candidate was selected.If this ad is still live, then we’re still looking. We know it stinks not hearing back and we hate sending canned emails. We think you’re already a superhero for wanting to work for a nonprofit that helps kids.Thanks for applying.

About Open Heart Magic

Our mission is to use the therapeutic power of magic and laughter to energize and strengthen seriously ill children in Chicago area hospitals, and aid their healing. We strive to reach young patients one-by-one regardless of their disease, medical situation or physical ability so that all children may benefit from this engaging and entertaining therapy.
Open Heart Magic (OHM) is a not-for-profit 501(c)(3) Chicago-based organization founded in 2004. Our personalized interactions help children feel special, more confident and empowered during a scary and stressful time. By inviting them to be a part of the interaction, we energize kids and help them find the strength they need to heal.
In 2017, our volunteers reached over 12,000 children and their families--and we continue to grow.